COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT The EU Environmental Implementation Review 2019 Country Report - LITHUANIA Accompanying the document Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions Environmental Implementation Review 2019: A Europe that protects its citizens and enhances their quality of life
Contents
| Document date | 15-04-2019 |
|---|---|
| Publication date | 16-04-2019 |
| Reference | 8302/19 ADD 16 |
| From | Secretary-General of the European Commission, signed by Mr Jordi AYET PUIGARNAU, Director |
| External link | original article |
| Original document in PDF |  |
Council of the European Union
Brussels, 15 April 2019 (OR. en)
8302/19 ADD 16
ENV 397 CLIMA 111 AGRI 201 PECHE 160 ECOFIN 380 COMPET 321
COVER NOTE
From: Secretary-General of the European Commission, signed by Mr Jordi AYET PUIGARNAU, Director
date of receipt: 5 April 2019
To: Mr Jeppe TRANHOLM-MIKKELSEN, Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union
No. Cion doc.: SWD(2019) 125 final
Subject: COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT
The EU Environmental Implementation Review 2019
Country Report - LITHUANIA
Accompanying the document
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions
Environmental Implementation Review 2019: A Europe that protects its citizens and enhances their quality of life
Delegations will find attached document SWD(2019) 125 final.
Encl.: SWD(2019) 125 final
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Brussels, 4.4.2019 SWD(2019) 125 final
COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT
The EU Environmental Implementation Review 2019
Country Report - LITHUANIA
Accompanying the document
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions
Environmental Implementation Review 2019:
A Europe that protects its citizens and enhances their quality of life
{COM(2019) 149 final1} - {SWD(2019) 111 final} - {SWD(2019) 112 final} - {SWD(2019) 113 final} - {SWD(2019) 114 final} - {SWD(2019) 115 final} - {SWD(2019) 116 final} - {SWD(2019) 117 final} - {SWD(2019) 118 final} - {SWD(2019) 119 final} - {SWD(2019) 120 final} - {SWD(2019) 121 final} - {SWD(2019) 122 final} - {SWD(2019) 123 final} - {SWD(2019) 124 final} - {SWD(2019) 126 final} - {SWD(2019) 127 final} - {SWD(2019) 128 final} - {SWD(2019) 129 final} - {SWD(2019) 130 final} - {SWD(2019) 131 final} - {SWD(2019) 132 final} - {SWD(2019) 133 final} - {SWD(2019) 134 final} - {SWD(2019) 135 final} - {SWD(2019) 136 final} - {SWD(2019) 137 final} - {SWD(2019) 138 final} - {SWD(2019) 139 final}
This report has been written by the staff of the Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission. Comments are welcome, please send them to ENV-EIR@ec.europa.eu
More information on the European Union is available at http://europa.eu .
Photographs: p. 10 — ©iStock/Lekavicius; p. 11 — ©iStock/flavijus; p. 12 — ©iStock/westernstudio; p. 20 — ©iStock/fotoman-kharkov; p. 28 — ©iStock/esvetleishaya
For reproduction or use of these photos, permission must be sought directly from the copyright holder.
©European Union, 2019
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged
Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .............................................................................................................................. 3
PART I: THEMATIC AREAS ......................................................................................................................... 4
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1.TURNING THE EU INTO A CIRCULAR, RESOURCE-EFFICIENT, GREEN AND COMPETITIVE LOW-CARBON ECONOMY ........................................................................................................................................ 4
Measures towards a circular economy ................................................................................................. 4
Waste management .............................................................................................................................. 6
Climate change ...................................................................................................................................... 8
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2.PROTECTING, CONSERVING AND ENHANCING NATURAL CAPITAL ................................................... 10
Nature and biodiversity ....................................................................................................................... 10
Maintaining and restoring ecosystems and their services .................................................................. 11
Estimating natural capital ................................................................................................................... 12
Invasive alien species .......................................................................................................................... 13
Soil protection ..................................................................................................................................... 13
Marine protection ............................................................................................................................... 14
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3.ENSURING CITIZENS' HEALTH AND QUALITY OF LIFE ....................................................................... 16
Air quality ............................................................................................................................................ 16
Industrial emissions ............................................................................................................................. 17
Noise ................................................................................................................................................. 18
Water quality and management ......................................................................................................... 18
Chemicals ............................................................................................................................................ 19
Making cities more sustainable ........................................................................................................... 20
PART II: ENABLING FRAMEWORK: IMPLEMENTATION TOOLS ................................................................. 22
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4.GREEN TAXATION, GREEN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT, ENVIRONMENTAL FUNDING AND INVESTMENTS 22
Green taxation and environmentally harmful subsidies ..................................................................... 22
Green public procurement .................................................................................................................. 23
Environmental funding and investments ............................................................................................ 23
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5.STRENGTHENING ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE ........................................................................ 27
Information, public participation and access to justice ...................................................................... 27
Compliance assurance ......................................................................................................................... 28
Effectiveness of environmental administrations ................................................................................. 30
International agreements ................................................................................................................... 31
Sustainable development and the implementation of the UN SDGs .................................................. 32
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
Executive summary
Lithuania and the Environmental Implementation Although Lithuania is considered to be the fastest Review (EIR) growing European innovator, its eco-innovation
In the 2017 EIR report, the main challenges identified performance still remains way below the EU average. A with regard to implementation of EU environmental targeted approach and policy measures, as well as more
policy and law in Lithuania were: funding, could help Lithuania further boost its ecoinnovation performance, and resource productivity.
• waste management, with the planned new
municipal waste incineration capacities potentially Lithuania has slightly less national land area covered by putting at risk Lithuania’s ability to reach EU Natura 2000 than the EU average, but a higher than
recycling targets; average proportion of it has good status.
• the fact that Lithuania remains a resource and Examples of good practice
energy intensive country. • The introduction of a deposit-refund system for
Lithuania organised a national EIR dialogue with a single-use plastic and glass bottles and metal cans particular focus on waste management. proved to be very successful, achieving its 2020
In 2017, the Commission launched the TAIEX-EIR peer-toobjective of 90 % collection already in 2017. •
peer (EIR P2P) as a new practical tool allowing peer-to Lithuanian LIFE programme projects on ensuring the
peer learning among environmental authorities. viability of grasslands and restoring hydrology in the Lithuania participated in two P2P workshops on reducing Amalvas and Žuvintas wetlands have been identified
emissions from domestic heating and air pollution. as success stories to showcase. • The Ministry of Environment homepage includes a
Progress on meeting challenges since the 2017 EIR hotline specifically for complaints.
Lithuania is taking further steps to shift to the circular economy. However, waste management remains a challenge. While Lithuania is on track towards achieving the 50 % recycling target by 2020, it will need to ensure that post-2020 recycling targets are met as well, with particular focus on separate collection. It should be careful not to acquire too much incineration or MBT
(mechanical-biological treatment) capacity.
Lithuania maintains a clean environment, particularly air and water quality. For water and nitrates Lithuania needs to make further efforts to reduce eutrophication of surface freshwater. The European Commission could not assess the second generation of river management plans under the Water Framework Directive as Lithuania has not yet completed all the required reporting.
Lithuania has bmade good progress on urban waste water treatment. It has a high level of compliance with the requirements of the Urban Waste Water Treatment
Directive in general. It needs to address the situation in one remaining agglomeration and issues linked to poorly controlled individual or other appropriate systems across the country, and this would make it fully compliant.
Lithuania could benefit from a more targeted use of the
European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), to better implement environmental rules, particularly on waste management and wastewater treatment, and to ensure that necessary administrative capacity and skills are available.
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
Part I: Thematic areas
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1.Turning the EU into a circular, resource-efficient, green and
competitive low-carbon economy
Measures towards a circular economy Lithuania supports the EU circular economy package and the shift to the circular economy in general, however, it
The Circular Economy Action Plan emphasises the need needs to take further steps in this area. As of 2018, there to move towards a life-cycle-driven ‘circular’ economy, is no national strategy or roadmap on the circular reusing resources as much as possible and bringing economy. New circular economy targets on waste will be residual waste close to zero. This can be facilitated by integrated into the National Waste Prevention and developing and providing access to innovative financial Management Plan for the period 2021–2027.
instruments and funding for eco-innovation. Figure 1: Resource productivity 2010-2017 5
Following the adoption of the 2015 circular economy package with its accompanying action plan and the setting up of a related stakeholder platform 1 , the
European Commission adopted a second package in
January 2018. This included additional measures such as:
(i) an EU strategy for plastics; (ii) a Communication on how to address the interplay between chemical, product and waste legislation; (iii) a report on critical raw materials; and (iv) a framework to monitor progress towards a circular economy 2 .
The circular (secondary) use of material in Lithuania was
4.5 % in 2016 (below the EU-28 average of 11.7 %). In contrast, Lithuania performs above the EU-28 average in terms of the number of people employed in the circular Lithuanian civil society is getting more involved in economy (2.71 % of total employment in 2016, EU-28 promoting circularity, with examples of fruitful average is 1.73 %). cooperation with local authorities. For example, the
In the 2017 Special Eurobarometer 468 on attitudes of ‘Žiedinė ekonomika’ (circular economy) public EU citizens towards the environment, 88 % of Lithuanian organization provides seminars on the circular economy people said they were concerned about the effects of for high school students in Vilnius. The project is financed plastic products on the environment (EU-28 average by the Environmental Protection Department of the 87 %). 89 % said they were worried about the impact of Vilnius City Municipality Administration.
chemicals (EU-28 average 90 %) 3 . There is a support for The number of EU Ecolabel products and EMAS 6 -licensed
circular economy initiatives and environmental organisations in a country can give a rough measurement protection action in Lithuanian society. of the circular economy transition. These two indicators
Figure 1 shows that, at 0.75 EUR/kg (EU average is 2.04), show to what extent this transition is engaging the Lithuania’s resource productivity (how efficiently the private sector and other national stakeholders. These economy uses material resources to produce wealth) 4 did two indicators also show the commitment of public
not increase when compared with 2010. authorities to policies that support the circular economy. As of September 2018, Lithuania had 195 products and
10 licences registered in the EU Ecolabel scheme, out of a total of 71 707 products and 2167 licences in the EU,
1 European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform .
3 European Commission, Special 486 Eurobarometer , ‘Attitudes of 5 Eurostat, Resource productivity.
European citizens towards the environment’, 2017. 6 EMAS is the European Commission’s Eco-Management and Audit
4 Resource productivity is defined as the ratio between gross domestic Scheme – a programme to encourage organisations to behave in a more product (GDP) and domestic material consumption (DMC). environmentally sustainable way.
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
showing a low take-up of these licences 7 . Moreover, 4 resource-efficiency actions they had taken and additional organisations from Lithuania are currently registered in resource-efficiency actions they planned to take in the EMAS 8 . next 2 years. The Eurobarometer then compared these
responses with responses given to the same questions in SMEs and resource efficiency 2015. Lithuanian companies show a slight decline in
Lithuanian SMEs continue to score above the EU average intentions to invest in all eight dimensions of resource on environmental issues, as shown in Figure 2. Although efficiency compared to 2015, despite ambition levels the proportion of Lithuanian SMEs that put in place already being low; saving energy and water are resource efficiency measures is far below the EU average, exceptions here.
the percentage of SMEs that offer green products and Only 7 % of Lithuanian companies (compared to 22 % in services is above. the EU on average, with the range being 3 %-38 %) relied
The extent to which companies taking resource efficiency on external support in their efforts to be more resource measures benefit from public support is higher in efficient. For them, private sector consultancy and advice Lithuania than in the EU on average. The proportion of from business associations gained in importance, SMEs where more than 50 % of turnover comes from whereas public sector funding and advice lost importance green products and services is significantly higher than in compared to 2015.
most EU countries. The significant progress made in this There is still significant potential to raise Lithuanian area can be attributed to a number of financial and non SMEs’ ambition to become more resource efficient and financial support schemes that have been put in place to develop products and services for green markets, and support eco-innovation since 2008, and most notably their general awareness of opportunities in these areas.
since 2016/2017. Lithuanian companies engage very little in external
Figure 2: Environmental performance of SMEs 9 cooperation, which makes it difficult to create pro-active environmental policies based on cooperation and incentives. The increasing importance that companies give to business associations may help address this.
Eco-innovation
In 2018, Lithuania ranked 20th on the 2018 European Innovation Scoreboard, and was the fastest growing
innovator (20.1 % increase since 2010) 11 . Figure 3 shows
that in 2017 Lithuania still performed below the EU average with an Eco-Innovation Index score of 82, placing it in 17th place in the overall EU ranking. However, the country has made a significant progress in the area of eco-innovation since it was in the last place according to
this index in 2010.
The strongest drivers of eco-innovation in Lithuania are: an evolving innovation and entrepreneurial culture; increasing media coverage of the green economy, which continues to expand awareness of eco-innovation and
the circular economy.
The Lithuanian innovation development programme for 2014-2020 and the smart specialisation strategy are the two major documents that continue to support national actions for eco-innovation. EU funds — European
The latest Eurobarometer on ‘SMEs, resource efficiency Regional Development Fund (ERDF), European Social
and green markets’ 10 asked companies about both recent
10 Flash Eurobarometer 456 ‘SME, resource efficiency and green markets’ January 2018. The 8 dimension were Save energy; Minimise
7 European Commission, Ecolabel Facts and Figures . waste; Save materials; Save Water; Recycle by reusing material
8 As of May 2018. European Commission, Eco-Management and Audit internally; Design products easier to maintain, repair or reuse; Use
Scheme . renewable energy; Sell scrap materials to another company.
9 European Commission, 2018 SBA fact sheet - Lithuania, p. 15. 11 European Commission, European innovation Scoreboard 2018 .
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
Fund (ESF) and Cohesion Fund — continue to support
business development that boosts innovation. Eco Waste management
innovation potential is expected to grow in the Turning waste into a resource is supported by: construction, solar energy, waste management and green (i) fully implementing EU waste legislation, which transport sectors. includes the waste hierarchy, the need to ensure
separate collection of waste, the landfill diversion
Figure 3: 2017 Eco-innovation index (EU=100) 12 targets, etc.;
(ii) reducing waste generation and waste generation per
capita in absolute terms; and
(iii) limiting energy recovery to non-recyclable materials
and phasing out landfilling of recyclable or recoverable
waste.
This section focuses on management of municipal waste 14 for which EU law sets mandatory recycling
targets 15 .
In 2017, municipal waste generation in Lithuania remained below the EU average (455 kg/y/inhabitant
compared to around 487 kg) 16 . Figure 5 shows Lithuania’s
municipal waste by treatment in terms of kg per capita.
Lithuania has achieved significant progress regarding waste management, as it halved its landfilling rate since 2014, to 33 % (still above the EU average of 25 %). Recycling and composting (48 %) have become the main treatment option, slightly above the EU average of around 46 %. This development is in large part due to the
Figure 4: Lithuania’s eco-innovation performance increase in composting, to 24 %, an almost 150 % increase since 2014, which ranks Lithuania as one of the top performers in the EU (average composting rate in the EU is around 17 %).
A significant decrease in landfilling has been achieved by increasing incineration with energy recovery capacity (the second least favourable option for waste treatment), the rate of which doubled since 2014 to 18 % (still below the EU average of 24 %); it may still increase in the future
as new facilities are under construction.
Lithuania is well on its way to compliance with the 50 %
One of the expected future developments encouraged by recycling 2020 target, as shown in Figure 6 17 .
the smart specialisation strategy is connected to the building of bio-refinery plants in Lithuania. Due to government actions and business initiatives, the waste
recycling sector continues to expand. 14 Municipal waste consists of mixed waste and separately collected
waste from households and from other sources, where such waste is
Perhaps the biggest new trend in Lithuania is the similar in nature and composition to waste from households. This is
emergence of either business-led or NGO-led initiatives, without prejudice to the allocation of responsibilities for waste
which were designed to support recycling and waste management between public and private sectors. 15 See Article 11.2 of Directive 2008/98/EC2. This Directive was amended
management and have also been drivers of ecoin 2018 by Directive (EU) 2018/851, and more ambitious recycling innovation 13 . targets were introduced for the period up to 2035. These targets will be
taken into consideration to assess progress in future Environmental Implementation Reports. 16 European Commission, Eurostat, Municipal waste by waste operations. 17 Member States may choose a different method than the one used by
12 Eco-innovation Observatory : Eco-Innovation scoreboard 2017. ESTAT (and referred to in this report) to calculate their recycling rates 13 European Commission, Eco-Innovation Observatory: Eco-innovation and track compliance with the 2020 target of 50 % recycling of
Country Profiles 2016-2017. municipal waste.
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
An important factor that contributed to the increase in The increase in composting is due to the opening of the recycling of the dry recyclable fraction was the green waste composting sites, where citizens can bring introduction of a deposit-refund system for single-use garden and similar waste free of charge. Separate plastic and glass bottles and metal cans. The system is collection of food waste in cities with more than 50 000 very successful, achieving its 2020 objective of 90 % inhabitants is planned for 2019. The Ministry of collection already in 2017. There are specific plans to Environment is also considering the most appropriate further improve and optimise the separate collection ways of treating food waste. system: by the end of 2021, it is planned to optimise the
collection points network and continue providing However, more efforts will be needed for Lithuania to individual households with separate collection comply with post-2020 recycling targets
20 , in particular as
containers. Since 2015 Ministry of Environment conducts regards capturing more waste through separate a public survey which indicates that the public opinion on collection and decreasing reliance on MBT and waste waste management system (separate collection, access incineration plants for the treatment of the to containers, awareness rising) becomes more biodegradable fraction and other recyclable fraction.
favourable every year. Lithuania has one of the lowest landfill fees in the EU.
Figure 5: Municipal waste by treatment in Lithuania The plans to progressively increase the landfill tax for
2010-2017 18 non-hazardous waste to 27.5 EUR/t by 2020 were postponed for the second time at the end of 2018. The
tax rate thus remains at 5 EUR/t in 2019, and is to increase to 27.5 EUR/t by 2020. The low tax rate combined with landfill gate fees is an obstacle to improving the economic viability of recycling, as landfilling remains the cheapest waste treatment option. Once the tax reaches the level of at least 20 EUR/t, but preferably more, the measure should become more
effective.
Lithuania has made the pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) scheme mandatory in all municipalities. Under PAYT, payment for the waste management service should consist of two components: fixed and variable. The rules determining and explaining the scheme’s implementation are quite vague, however, and each municipality has a lot of flexibility in how to implement it. In practice, the fixed component of the fee is often predominant, and the
Figure 6: Recycling rate of municipal waste 2010-2017 19 variable part is not always linked to the amount of waste.
It is important that Lithuania gains clarity on the real needs and plans for waste incineration in the next period. This will improve information needed for energy recovery
and for waste management stakeholders.
2019 priority actions
• Introduce new policy instruments, including
economic instruments, to promote prevention, make
reuse and recycling more economically attractive.
• Set mandatory targets for recycling and/or on
generation of residual waste at municipal level, with penalties for non-compliance. Develop and run implementation support programmes for municipalities to help support their efforts to
20 Directive (EU) 2018/851 , Directive (EU) 2018/852 , Directive (EU) 2018/850 and Directive (EU) 2018/849 amend the previous waste
18 European Commission, Eurostat, Municipal waste by waste legislation and set more ambitious recycling targets for the period up to operations. 2035. These targets will be taken into consideration to assess progress 19 European Commission, Eurostat, Recycling rate of municipal waste . in future Environmental Implementation Reports.
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
organise separate collection and further improve updated by the Parliament in July 2018. Lithuania expects recycling performance. the Baltic Energy Technology Scenario study, of which a
• Introduce an incineration and MBT tax to shift first draft was ready in October and finalized in
reusable and recyclable waste towards recycling. December 2017, to support the development of the
• Extend and enforce pay-as-you-throw scheme, NECP.
provide incentives and support to households to
participate in separate collection. Figure 7: Change in total greenhouse gas emissions
• Improve the functioning of extended producer 1990-2017 (1990=100%)
22
.
responsibility systems, in line with the general minimum requirements on extended producer responsibility 21 .
• Avoid building excessive infrastructure capacity for
the treatment of residual waste, such as mechanical treatment plants, incinerators and landfills.
Climate change
The EU has committed to undertaking ambitious climate action internationally as well as in the EU, having ratified the Paris Climate Agreement on 5 October 2016. The EU targets are to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by
20 % by 2020 and by at least 40 % by 2030, compared to
1990. As a long-term target, the EU aims to reduce its emissions by 80-95 % by 2050, as part of the efforts required by developed countries as a group. Adapting to the adverse effects of climate change is vital to alleviate its already visible effects and improve preparedness for
and resilience to future impacts. The Strategy for the National Climate Change
The EU emissions trading system (EU ETS) covers all large Management Policy lays down the targets and objectives greenhouse gas emitters in the industry, power and for climate change mitigation and adaptation by 2050. aviation sectors in the EU. The EU ETS applies in all The Strategy lays down indicative medium-term and long Member States and has a very high compliance rate. Each term climate change mitigation targets that Lithuania will year, installations cover around 99 % of their emissions contribute towards, i.e. the implementation of the EU
with the required number of allowances. greenhouse gas emission reduction targets: reducing these emissions by at least 40% by 2030, 60% by 2040
For emissions not covered by the EU ETS, Member States and 80% by 2050, compared to 1990 levels. Upon the have binding national targets under the Effort Sharing adoption of EU legal acts on the implementation of the legislation. Lithuania had lower emissions than its annual EU 2030 climate and energy framework, the Strategy has emission allocations (AEAs) in each of the years 2013- been started to revise.
2016. According to preliminary data, emissions in 2017
were slightly higher than the AEA. For 2020, Lithuania's Transport represents almost a quarter of the EU’s GHG national target under the EU Effort Sharing Decision is to emissions and is the main cause of air pollution in avoid increasing emissions by more than 15% compared cities.Transport emissions in Lithuania increased by 25 % to 2005. For 2030, Lithuania's national target under the from 2013 to 2016.”
Effort Sharing Regulation will be to reduce emissions by The F-gas Regulation requires Member States to run 9% compared to 2005. training and certification programmes, introduce rules for
In the work with the national energy and climate plan, penalties and notify these measures to the Commission Lithuania intends to build on existing regional by 2017. Lithuania has notified both measures.
cooperation in the Baltic Energy Market Interconnection
Plan (BEMIP), the Baltic Environmental and Energy
Councils. On the basis of the analysis prepared in 2015
22
the National Energy Independence Strategy (2012) was Annual European Union greenhouse gas inventory 1990–2016 ( EEA greenhouse gas data viewer ). Proxy GHG emission estimates for
2017Approximated EU greenhouse gas inventory 2017 (European Environment Agency). Member States national projections, reviewed by
21 Directive (EU) 2018/851 . the European Environment Agency.
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
Figure 8: Targets and emissions for Lithuania under the Lithuania adopted a 'Strategy for National Climate Effort Sharing Decision and Effort Sharing Regulation 23 management Policy 2013-2050' in 2012. An
Interinstitutional Action Plan on the implementation of the goals and objectives of this Strategy was adopted for the period of 2013-2020. The following priority sectors have been identified: energy, transport, industry, agriculture, landscape, spatial planning, ecosystems and biodiversity, fisheries and aquaculture sector, forestry, tourism, groundwater resources, and waste management. Every two years, the Government of the Republic of Lithuania prepares a report on the implementation of the Strategy. The outcomes of the monitoring, reporting and evaluation scheme will feed into further development of the Action Plan and the
update of the Strategy.
The total revenues from the auctioning of emission allowances under the EU ETS over the years 2013-2017 were EUR 118 million. 86 % of the auctioning revenues
The accounting of GHG emissions and removals from have been spent on climate and energy purposes. forests and agriculture is governed by the Kyoto Protocol.
A preliminary accounting exercise for 2013-2016 shows 2019 priority action
net credits of, on average, -1.9 Mt CO 2 -eq, which In this report, no priority actions have been included on corresponds to 1.7% of the EU-28 accounted sink of - climate action, as the Commission will first need to assess 115.7 Mt CO 2 -eq per year. Lithuania is one of eight EU the draft national energy and climate plans which the Member States which exceed the cap of 3.5% from Member States needed to send by end of 2018. These emissions of the base year (1990). plans should increase the consistency between energy
Figure 9: Greenhouse gas emissions by sector (Mt. CO2- and climate policies and could therefore become a good
eq.). Historical data 1990-2016. Projections 2017-2030 24 example of how to link sector-specific policies on other interlinked themes such as agriculture-nature-water and
transport-air-health.
23 Proxy GHG emission estimates for 2017 Approximated EU greenhouse gas inventory 2017 (European Environment Agency). Member States national projections, reviewed by the European Environment Agency.
24 Annual European Union greenhouse gas inventory 1990–2016 ( EEA greenhouse gas data viewer ). Proxy GHG emission estimates for
2017Approximated EU greenhouse gas inventory 2017 (European
Environment Agency). Member States national projections, reviewed by the European Environment Agency.
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
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2.Protecting, conserving and enhancing natural capital
Nature and biodiversity biosphere reserve. This example of successful wetland
restoration can be easily replicated 26 .
The EU biodiversity strategy aims to halt the loss of
biodiversity in the EU by 2020. It requires full Setting up a coherent network of Natura 2000 sites
implementation of the Birds and Habitats Directives to
achieve favourable conservation status of protected The Birds and Habitats Directives require Member States species and habitats. It also requires that the agricultural to establish a coherent national network of Natura 2000 and forest sectors help to maintain and improve sites. The Commission assesses compliance with this biodiversity. requirement individually for each species and habitat
type occurring on the national territory of the Member
Biodiversity strategy States. The latest update of this assessment was carried
out by the Commission with the assistance of the
In 2015, Lithuania adopted an action plan on the European Environment Agency (EEA). This latest update conservation of landscape and biological diversity for identified several insufficiencies in Lithuania’s terrestrial 2015-2020 25 . Natura 2000 network.
In early 2017, 13 % of Lithuania’s land area was covered by Natura 2000 (EU average 18.1 %). The list of Special Protection Areas (SPAs) in Lithuania comprises 84 sites covering a total area of over 658 561 ha, while the list of Sites of Community Importance (SCIs) consists of 475 sites covering 724 708 ha. With the establishment of the last marine SPA in July 2015, the Lithuanian network of SPAs is considered as having been completed. However, the latest assessment 27 of the SCI part of the Natura 2000 network shows that there are insufficiencies when it
comes to designation.
Designating Natura 2000 sites and setting conservation objectives and measures
Nature in Lithuania is in a relatively good state. The A national habitat inventory was carried out between condition of its air, water and soil is assessed as good — 2011-2015 in order to determine the exact localisation of there are no significant ecological problems. Considering natural habitats and to collect the necessary data needed this, Lithuania can develop it ecological compensation for establishing favourable reference values and relevant system based on the ‘where it is necessary’ principle conservation objectives for each habitat type. The results rather than the ‘where it is left’ principle. of the exercise strongly suggest that the information on
There are two Lithuanian projects that have been chosen the present SCIs will have to be substantially reviewed to as success stories to showcase. One of them is an reflect the current reality. It also indicates that the integrated planning tool that can be used to ensure the current SCI network might be incomplete for some viability of grasslands. The project has: (i) identified habitat types and species.
common policy shortcomings and eliminated them to Lithuania continues to develop species conservation make sure grassland biodiversity is maintained in the plans and management plans for protected areas as long-term; (ii) restored around 140 ha of grasslands to required by EU legislation. At present, there are 104 create the preconditions for sustainable grassland adopted management plans for Natura 2000 sites, and management; (iii) set up a capacity-building programme 142 are in preparation, at different stages of on applying the integrated planning tool, which led to the training of 400 people. The second project is on the 26 LIFE programme - Country Factsheet for Lithuania. restoration of hydrology in the Amalvas and Žuvintas 27 For each Member State, the Commission assesses whether the
wetlands; it succeeded in reversing degradation species and habitat types on Annexes I and II of the Habitats Directive,
processes in 1 158 ha of targeted wetland in the Žuvintas are sufficiently represented by the sites designated to date. This is expressed as a percentage of species and habitats for which further
areas need to be designated in order to complete the network in that
25 Order on the Approval of the Action Plan on the Conservation of country. The current data , which were assessed in 2014-2015, reflect Landscape and Biological Diversity for 2015-2020 . the situation up until December 2013.
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
development. The lack of financial resources for the Maintaining and restoring ecosystems and
surveillance of species and habitats and for activities
related to habitat restoration and maintenance remains a their services
key difficulty in carrying out the required nature The EU biodiversity strategy aims to maintain and restore management activities in the Natura 2000 network 28 . ecosystems and their services by including green
infrastructure in spatial planning and restoring at least 15 % of degraded ecosystems by 2020. The EU green infrastructure strategy promotes the incorporation of
green infrastructure into related plans and programmes.
The EU has provided guidance on the further deployment of green and blue infrastructure in Lithuania 29 and a country page on the Biodiversity Information System for
Europe (BISE) 30 . This information will also contribute to
the final evaluation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020.
The Lithuanian green infrastructure (GI) strategy is in line with the spatial system developed in the country, called the ‘nature frame’. It is put into law by the Law on Environmental Protection, the Law on Protected Areas,
Progress in maintaining or restoring favourable and the Master Plan of the Territory of the Republic of conservation status of species and habitats Lithuania, through the concepts of nature frame and the
Considering that Member States report every 6 years on ecological network. The nature frame areas cover the progress made under both directives, no new approximately 60 % of Lithuania’s total area.
information is available on the state of natural habitats GI is also incorporated into the national environment and species, or on progress made in improving the protection strategy (2015), which sets goals up to 2030, conservation status of species and habitats in Lithuania, and the action plan on the conservation of landscape and as compared to the 2017 EIR Lithuanian Country Report. biodiversity (2015-2020). The plan states that the nature
Overall, it is acknowledged that improvements in the frame and the ecological network should be defined in status of species and habitats have recently been documents on integrated territorial planning at all levels.
reported in Lithuania. However, there are still challenges for implementing the nature frame, due to a lack of experience and financial
2019 priority actions support. The national environment protection strategy • Complete the Natura 2000 designation process and also promotes GI in urban areas. The Law on Green Plots
put in place clearly defined conservation objectives requires the creation of a system of green areas when and the necessary conservation measures for the master plans for cities are being prepared.
sites; provide adequate resources for their GI projects are implemented at cross-border, national, implementation in order to maintain/restore species regional and local level. Many Lithuanian cities engage in and habitats of community interest to a favourable green urban regeneration and are implementing GI. As conservation status across their natural range. regards agricultural policies, the nature frame is taken
• Develop and promote smart and streamlined into account in the preparation of land management
implementation approaches, in particular as regards plans, accompanied by environmental measures. appropritate assessment procedures, to ensure that
necessary knowledge and data are available; Forest policies also include GI elements as forest improve communication with stakeholders. management plans must take into account biodiversity
• Improve the incentives for foresters and farmers to features in the area when forest management measures are being planned. Conflict between commercial
better protect forest and grassland habitat. Ensure agricultural or forestry activities and the management of sustainable forest management and promote land for nature protection has been identified as a efficient use of biomass. challenge. This is especially the case where specific
29 The recommendations of the green infrastructure strategy review report and the EU Guidance on a strategic framework for further
28 The core of the ‘Article 17’ report is the assessment of conservation supporting the deployment of EU-level green and blue infrastructure. status of the habitats and species targeted by the Habitats Directive. 30 Biodiversity Information System for Europe.
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
agricultural practices such as pastures are no longer
economically profitable. Estimating natural capital
On 8 August 2018, the Lithuanian government approved The EU biodiversity strategy calls on Member States to a new yearly quota for cutting state forest for the years map and assess the state of ecosystems and their 2019-2023. It amounts to 11 850 ha of forest per year services 32 in their national territories by 2014, assess the
and is 6 % higher than the yearly quota approved for the economic value of such services and integrate these years 2014-2018 (11 168 ha). This quota applies to all values into accounting and reporting systems at EU and state-owned forests, including protected areas. This national level by 2020.
growing intensity of forest exploitation, especially within
Natura 2000 areas, raises further nature protection In Lithuania, the topic of ecosystem services is still rather concerns. new, with limited knowledge and experience across
different sectors (government, academia, NGOs, private).
No systemic mapping of ecosystems has yet been done.
However, MAES has been included in the current Lithuanian government’s work programme for 2016- 2020. It requires the mapping and assessing of at least 24 main ecosystem services, and urges the adoption of legislation to foster integration of the ecosystem services approach into sectoral policies. However, there is no coherent strategy or outlined set of actions yet.
Lithuania has started to prepare 33 for a national study on the distribution and state of the main ecosystems and their services on its territory. The two-year study is expected to begin in early 2019. For the process to be
The EU structural and investment funds are an important successful, however, awareness and knowledge of source of funding for GI in Lithuania. Over 2014-2020, ecosystem services in Lithuania must increase.
around EUR 66 million is earmarked for the management
of protected areas and integration of GI solutions into A concurrent scientific project on ecosystem services mapping and assessment funded by the Research Council
landscape management at local level. A particular
challenge is the lack of a methodology that could guide of Lithuania in 2017 is ongoing. Discussions on how to the creation of the nature frame and ecological networks best combine the two initiatives have started.
at regional and local level. Figure 10: Implementation of MAES (September 2018) 34
Lithuania is encouraged to continue its efforts to deploy green and blue infrastructure and mainstream it in other policies consistently with the mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services (MAES) framework; consider the recommendations of the GI strategy review report; make full use of the EU guidance on a strategic framework for further supporting the deployment of EU- level green and blue infrastructure 31 .
Lithuania’s report on resource mobilisation to the Outside national-level developments, a number of Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is still pending. smaller-scale initiatives with a narrower focus can be Reporting to the CBD on financial flows is important for highlighted, e.g. the VivaGrass project, carried out jointly the position of the EU and Member States in the CBD, with Latvian and Estonian partners specifically on and helps support good practices in other countries. grassland ecosystem services, and EcoServe, on the
future of the ecosystem services of the Lithuanian coastal zone in the context of global changes.
At the MAES working group meeting held in Brussels in September 2018, it was shown that Lithuania has made
32 Ecosystem services are benefits provided by nature such as food,
31 The recommendations of the green infrastructure strategy review clean water and pollination on which human society depends. report and the EU Guidance on a strategic framework for further 33 Ecosystem services in Lithuania . supporting the deployment of EU-level green and blue infrastructure. 34 ESMERALDA project .
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
some progress in implementing MAES since January 2016 The report on the baseline distribution of invasive alien (Figure 10). This assessment was made by the species (Figure 11), for which Lithuania did not review its ESMERALDA project 35 and based on 27 implementation country or grid-level data, shows that from the 37 species questions. The assessment is updated every 6 months. on the first EU list, seven have been observed in the
Business and biodiversity platforms, networks and environment in Lithuania. Of these, Sosnowsky’s communities of practice are key for promoting and hogweed (Heracleum sosnowskyi) seems to be the most facilitating natural capital assessments among business widespread.
and financial service providers, for instance via the Between the entry into force of the EU list and 18 May Natural Capital Coalition’s protocol 36 . The assessments 2018, Lithuania has not notified the Commission of any contribute to the EU biodiversity strategy by helping new appearances of listed species. private businesses better understand and value both
their impact dependence on nature. Biodiversity Lithuania has fulfilled all of its notification obligations platforms have been established at EU level 37 and in a under the Regulation and has also carried out a
number of Member States. comprehensive analysis of pathways of unintentional introduction and spread of invasive alien species of EU
Lithuania has not yet established such a platform . concern. It has shared the results with the Commission.
Invasive alien species Soil protection
Under the EU biodiversity strategy, the following are to The EU soil thematic strategy underlines the need to be achieved by 2020: ensure a sustainable use of soils. This entails preventing (i) invasive alien species identified; further soil degradation and preserving its functions, as (ii) priority species controlled or eradicated; and well as restoring degraded soils. The 2011 Roadmap to a (iii) pathways managed to prevent new invasive species Resource Efficient Europe states that by 2020, EU policies from disrupting European biodiversity. must take into account their direct and indirect impact This is supported by the Invasive Alien Species (IAS) on land use.
Regulation, which entered into force on 1 January 2015.
Soil is a finite and extremely fragile resource and it is
Figure 11: Number of IAS of EU concern, based on increasingly degrading in the EU. The percentage of available georeferenced information for Lithuania 38 artificial land 39 in Lithuania (Figure 12) is amongst the
lowest in the EU (surpassing only Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Bulgaria, Estonia and Romania). This is partly linked to the population density of 45.8/km 2 , significantly below
the EU average of 118 40 .
Contamination can severely reduce soil quality and threaten human health or the environment. A recent
report of the European Commission 41 estimated that
potentially polluting activities have taken or are still taking place on approximately 2.8 million sites in the EU. At EU level, 650 000 of these sites have been registered in national or regional inventories. 65 500 contaminated sites already have been remediated. Lithuania has registered 12 341 sites where potentially polluting
39 Artificial land cover is defined as the total of roofed built-up areas (including buildings and greenhouses), artificial non built-up areas (including sealed area features, such as yards, farmyards, cemeteries,
35 ESMERALDA project . car parking areas etc. and linear features, such as streets, roads,
36 Natural Capital Coalition, Natural Capital Protocol. railways, runways, bridges) and other artificial areas (including bridges 37 Business and Biodiversity, The European Business and Biodiversity and viaducts, mobile homes, solar panels, power plants, electrical
Campaign aims to promote the business case for biodiversity in the EU substations, pipelines, water sewage plants, and open dump sites).
Member States through workshops, seminars and a cross media 40 European Commission, Eurostat, Population density by NUTS 3 communication strategy. region .
38 Tsiamis K; Gervasini E; Deriu I; D`amico F; Nunes A; Addamo A; De 41 Ana Paya Perez, Natalia Rodriguez Eugenio (2018), Status of local soil Jesus Cardoso A. Baseline Distribution of Invasive Alien Species of Union contamination in Europe: Revision of the indicator “Progress in the concern. Ispra (Italy): Publications Office of the European Union , 2017. management Contaminated Sites in Europe”.
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
activities have taken or are taking place, and already has Lithuania has an average soil loss rate by water of 2.46 remediated or applied aftercare measures on 96 sites. tonnes per hectare per year, compared to the EU mean
Lithuania has carried out a thorough mapping of of 2.46 t ha
−a yr −y . This indicates that soil erosion in
potentially contaminated sites. This serves as the basis Lithuania is similar to the EU average. Note that these for remediating these contaminated sites under the figures are the output of an EU level model and can national environment protection strategy (2015) 42 and therefore not be considered as locally measured values. management plan of contaminated sites for 2013-2023, The actual rate of soil loss can vary strongly within a approved by the Minister of Environment 43 Member State depending on local conditions.
Figure 12: Proportion of artificial land cover, 2015 44 Soil organic matter plays an important role in the carbon cycle and in climate change. Soils are the second largest
carbon sink in the world after the oceans. Due to the natural climate conditions and long-term intensive historical tillage, Lithuanian arable land is heavily affected by leaching of organic carbon – median value of total organic carbon (TOC) in arable soil is 1.2 %, while median at EU level is 1.8 %. Only Polish, Spanish and Portuguese arable soil is poorer with TOC than Lithuanian. Grazing land in Lithuania has 2.25 % of TOC, but is still very poor
and only fourth from the end in EU 46 .
Marine protection
EU coastal and marine policy and legislation require that by 2020 the impact of pressures on marine waters be reduced to achieve or maintain good environmental status (GES) and ensure that coastal zones are managed
sustainably.
The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) 47 aims to achieve good environmental status of the EU’s marine waters by 2020. To that end, Member States must develop a marine strategy for their marine waters, and cooperate with the EU countries that share the same
marine (sub)region.
For Lithuania, the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (Helsinki Commission) plays an important
Soil erosion by water is a natural process, but this natural role in achieving the goals required by the Marine process can be aggravated by climate change and human Strategy Framework Directive. Marine strategies activities such as inappropriate agricultural practices, comprise different steps to be developed and deforestation, forest fires or construction works. High implemented over six-year cycles. The latest step levels of soil erosion can reduce productivity in required Member States to set up a programme of agriculture and can have negative and transboundary measures and report on it to the Commission. This was impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem service. High due by 31 March 2016. Although it has reported its levels of soil erosion can also have negative and measures in the meantime, this was too late for the transboundary effects on rivers and lakes (due to Commission to include them in this assessment increased sediment volumes and transport of exercise
48 .
contaminants). According to the RUSLE2015 model 45 ,
42 National Environment Protection Strategy.
43 Management Plan of Contaminated sites for 2013-2023.
44 European Commission, Eurostat, Land covered by artificial surfaces by
NUTS 2 regions . 46 Birke, M., Demetriades, A., Filzmoser, P., O’Connor, P. (eds.) 2014. 45 Panagos, P., Borrelli, P., Poesen, J., Ballabio, C., Lugato, E., Chemistry of Europe’s agricultural soils. Geologisches Jahrbuch (Reihe A, Meusburger, K., Montanarella, L., Alewell, C., The new assessment of 102, Schweizerbart, 2014, pp.187-191. soil loss by water erosion in Europe, (2015) Environmental Science and 47 Directive 2008/56/EC .
Policy, 54, pp. 438-447. 48 COM(2018) 562 , p. 2.
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
2019 priority action
• Ensure timely reporting of the different elements
under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive so that Lithuania can be part of future Commission's assessments.
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
-
3.Ensuring citizens' health and quality of life
Air quality particular matter PM 2.5 by 9.35 %. Meanwhile, emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO x ) increased by 1.14 % between
EU clean air policy and legislation require the significant 2014 and 2016 (see also Figure 13 on the total PM 2.5 and improvement of air quality in the EU, moving the EU NO x emissions per sector).
closer to the quality recommended by the World Health Despite the reduction in emissions, Lithuania needs to Organisation. Air pollution and its impacts on human make additional efforts to meet its emission reduction health, ecosystems and biodiversity should be further commitments (compared with 2005 levels) set by the reduced with the long-term aim of not exceeding critical new National Emissions Ceilings Directive 53 for 2020- loads and levels. This requires strengthening efforts to 2029 and for any year from 2030.
reach full compliance with EU air quality legislation and
defining strategic targets and actions beyond 2020. For 2017, Lithuania does not report any air quality values
that exceed EU limits 54 . Air quality in Lithuania is The EU has developed a comprehensive body of air reported to be generally good, with exceptions. For
quality legislation 49 , which establishes health-based 2015, the European Environment Agency 55 estimated
standards and objectives for a number of air pollutants. that about 2 600 premature deaths were attributable to
fine particulate matter concentrations 56 , 90 to ozone
According to the European Court of Auditors (ECA) 50 , EU concentrations 57 and 70 to nitrogen dioxide
action to protect human health from air pollution has not concentrations.
delivered its expected impact.
Figure 14: Air quality zones exceeding EU air quality
Figure 13: PM 2.5 and NO x emissions by sector in standards in 2017 58
Lithuania 51
2019 priority action
• Take, in the context of the National Air Pollution
Control Programme (NAPCP), actions towards further reducing the main emission sources.
The emission of several air pollutants has decreased significantly in Lithuania 52 . The emission reductions made between 1990-2014 and mentioned in the previous EIR continued between 2014-2016, with: emissions of sulphur oxides (SO x ) falling by 4.51 %; emissions of 53 Directive 2016/2284/EU
ammonia (NH 54 3 ) by 1.65 %; emissions of volatile organic See The EEA/Eionet Air Quality Portal and the related Central Data
compounds (NMVOCs) by 0.96 %, and; emissions of fine Repository. 55 EEA, Air Quality in Europe – 2018 Report , p. 64. Please see details in
this report as regards the underpinning methodology.
56 Particulate matter (PM) is a mixture of aerosol particles (solid and
49 European Commission, 2016. Air Quality Standards. liquid) covering a wide range of sizes and chemical compositions. PM10 50 European Court of Auditors, Special report no 23/2018, Air pollution: (PM2.5) refers to particles with a diameter of 10 (2.5) micrometres or
Our health still insufficiently protected , p.41. less. PM is emitted from many human sources, including combustion. 51 2016 NECD data submitted by Member State to the EEA. 57 Low level ozone is produced by photochemical action on pollution.
52 See EIONET Central Data Repository and Air pollutant emissions data 58 European Commission, Data reflects the reporting situation as of 26 viewer (NEC Directive). November 2018.
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
and NH3. The breakdown is shown in the following
Industrial emissions graph.
The main objectives of EU policy on industrial emissions Figure 16: Emissions to air from IED sectors and all other are to: national total air emissions (2015)
(i) protect air, water and soil;
(ii) prevent and manage waste;
(iii) improve energy and resource efficiency; and
(iv) clean up contaminated sites.
To achieve this, the EU takes an integrated approach to the prevention and control of routine and accidental industrial emissions. The cornerstone of the policy is the
Industrial Emissions Directive 59 (IED).
The below overview of industrial activities regulated by the IED is based on the ‘industrial emissions policy
country profiles’ project 60 .
Lithuania’s industrial sectors with the most IED installations in 2015 were, as reflected in Figure 15: intensive rearing of poultry and pigs (41 %), followed by Regarding water emissions, the ‘other activities’ and the management of hazardous waste industry (13 %), chemicals sectors were identified as having the most management of non-hazardous waste (12 %) and energysignificant environmental impact. The waste power (12 %). management sector mainly contributes to hazardous
Figure 15: Number of IED industrial installations by waste generation and chemicals to non-hazardous waste
sector, Lithuania (2015) 61 generation. Waste generation by IED installations is shown in the following graph.
The EU approach taken to enforcement under the IED creates strong rights for citizens to have access to relevant information and to participate in the permitting process. This empowers citizens, and NGOs, to ensure that permits are appropriately granted and their
conditions respected.
The development of Best Available Techniques (BAT) Reference Documents (BREFs) and BAT Conclusions through the exchange of information involving Member States, Industrial associations, NGOs and the Commission ensures a good collaboration with stakeholders and
enables a better implementation of IED.
The industrial sectors that were the largest burden on The Commission relies on and welcomes the efforts of the environment in terms of emissions to air were the national competent authorities to implement the legally energy-power sector for all pollutants except NMVOCs binding BAT conclusions and associated BAT emission and ammonia (NH3) and ‘other activities’ (mostly levels in environmental permits, resulting in considerable intensive rearing of poultry or pigs, surface treatment and continuous reduction of pollution.
and pulp, paper and wood products), also for NMVOCs By way of example, the implementation of the recently
adopted BAT associated emission levels for Large Combustion Plants will -on average and depending on the
59 Directive 2010/753/EU covers industrial activities carried out above situation of individual plants- reduce emissions of sulphur certain thresholds. It covers energy industry, metal production, mineral dioxide with 25% to 81%, nitrogen oxide with 8%to 56%,
and chemical industry and waste management, as well as a wide range
of industrial and agricultural sectors (e.g. intensive rearing of pig and dust with 31% to 78% and mercury with 19% to 71% at
poultry, pulp and paper production, painting and cleaning). EU level.
60 European Commission, Industrial emissions policy country profile –
Lithuania. The challenge identified during stakeholder consultation
61 European Commission, Industrial emissions policy country profile – in Lithuania related to the odour arising from the
Lithuania. intensive rearing of pigs.
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
2019 priority action management plans and river basin management plans,
• Review permits and strengthen control and /or including programme of measures which include the actions that Member States plan to take in order to
enforcement to compy with newly adopted BAT
conclusions. achieve the environmental objectives.
Water Framework Directive
Noise Lithuania has adopted the second generation of river The Environmental Noise Directive 62 provides for a basin management plans under the Water Framework common approach to avoiding, preventing and reducing Directive albeit not finished the electronic reporting to the harmful effects of exposure to environmental noise. WISE as agreed by the water directors under the
common implementation strategy related to the Water
Excessive noise from aircraft, railways and roads is one of Framework Directive, in June 2014. The European the main causes of environmental health-related issues Commission has therefore not yet conducted an in the EU 63 . assessment and not been able to assess the status and
development since the first EIR report.
Based on a limited set of data 64 , environmental noise
causes at least 300 premature deaths per year in Nitrates Directive
Lithuania and is responsible for around 1 200 hospital In the context of the Nitrates Directive, Lithuania applies admissions. Noise also disturbs the sleep of roughly mandatory measures on its whole territory. The 130 000 people in Lithuania. The noise mapping for the measures implementing the Nitrates Directive are set out previous reporting round (reference year 2011) is in the water field development program for the year complete, as are the action plans (reference year 2013). 2017-2023 and implementation plan of the water field These instruments, adopted after a public consultation development program for the year 2017-2023. Overall, had been carried out, should include the measures to according to the last report on the implementation of the keep noise low or reduce it. Nitrates Directive (referring to the period 2012-2015),
nitrate levels in surface water and groundwater remain
Water quality and management low in Lithuania. However, eutrophication of surface
EU legislation and policy requires that the impact of freshwater remains problematic, with a slight increase of pressures on transitional, coastal and fresh waters stations reported in eutrophic and hypertrophic status, (including surface and ground waters) be significantly from 47 % to 49 %. Protection of the Baltic Sea is also an reduced. Achieving, maintaining or enhancing a good issue as all saline water stations were reported to be in status of water bodies as defined by the Water eutrophic or hypertrophic status. Under the Nitrates Framework Directive will ensure that EU citizens benefit Directive report for 2012-2015, Lithuania also reported from good quality and safe drinking and bathing water. It that nitrate concentrations in surface water are not likely will further ensure that the nutrient cycle (nitrogen and to decrease if no additional measures are taken to reduce phosphorus) is managed in a more sustainable and pollution.
resource-efficient way. Bathing Water Directive
The existing EU water legislation 65 puts in place a Figure 17 shows that, in 2017, out of Lithuania’s 114 protective framework to ensure high standards for all bathing waters, 85.1 % were of excellent quality, 10.5 % water bodies in the EU and addresses specific pollution of good quality and 0.9 % of sufficient quality (85.1 %, sources (for example, from agriculture, urban areas and 8.8 % and 2.6 % respectively in 2016). However, one of industrial activities). It also requires that the projected Lithuania’s bathing waters was of poor quality
66
. Detailed
impacts of climate change are integrated into the information on Lithuania’s bathing waters is available on corresponding planning instruments e.g. flood risk a national portal
67 and via an interactive map viewer
designed and hosted by the European Environment
Agency 68 .
63 Fritschi, L., Brown, A.L., Kim, R., Schwela, D., Kephalopoulos, S. (eds), Figure 17: Bathing water quality 2014 – 2017 69
Burden of disease from environmental noise , WHO/JRC, World Health
Organization, Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2011.
64 European Environment Agency, Noise Fact Sheets 2017 .
65 This includes the Bathing Waters Directive (2006/7/EC), the Urban 66 European Environment Agency, European bathing water quality in Waste Water Treatment Directive (91/271/EEC) (on discharges of 2016 , 2017, p. 17. municipal and some industrial wastewaters), the Drinking Water 67 Centre for Health Education and Disease Prevention
Directive (98/83/EC) (on potable water quality), the Water Framework 68 EEA, State of bathing waters.
Directive (2000/60/EC) (on water resources management), the Nitrates 69 European Environment Agency, European bathing water quality in Directive (91/676/EEC) and the Floods Directive (2007/60/EC). 2017 , 2018, p. 21.
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
• Consider improved or new measures under the
Nitrates Directive to decrease nitrate pollution.
• Reach compliance with the Urban Waste Water
Treatment Directive in Kėdainiai and resolve issues
related to IAS as soon as possible.
• Take steps to clarify the legal status of the Flood Risk
Management Plan.
Chemicals
The EU seeks to ensure that by 2020 chemicals are produced and used in ways that minimise any significant adverse effects on human health and the environment. An EU strategy for a non-toxic environment that is conducive to innovation and to developing sustainable substitutes, including non-chemical options, is being
Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive prepared.
Lithuania has a high level of compliance with the
requirements of the Urban Waste Water Treatment The EU’s chemicals legislation 71 provides baseline
Directive. All except one of its 65 agglomerations comply protection for human health and the environment. It also with the requirements of the Directive in terms of ensures stability and predictability for businesses collection and treatment. An infringement procedure has operating within the internal market.
been launched to address the remaining agglomeration In 2016, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) (Kėdainiai) and issues related to the use of individual or published a report on REACH and the CLP Regulation 72 other appropriate systems (IAS) across the country, that showed that enforcement activities are still evolving. which frequently lack regulation and control. The Member States cooperate closely within the Forum for estimated investment needed to ensure adequate Exchange of Information on Enforcement 73 . This collection and treatment of the remaining agglomeration cooperation has shown that there is scope to increase
is EUR 38 million 70 . the effectiveness of enforcement activities, particularly
Floods Directive for registration obligations and safety data sheets where
the level of non-compliance is still relatively high.
The Floods Directive established a framework for the
assessment and management of flood risks, aiming at the While progress has been made, there is room to further reduction of the adverse consequences associated with improve and harmonise enforcement activities across the significant floods. EU, including controls on imported goods. Enforcement
remains weak in some Member States, particularly for
Lithuania has reported its first Flood Risk Management controls on imports and supply chain obligations. The Plans under the Directive, which has been assessed by enforcement architecture is complex in most EU the European Commission. Objectives are well defined as countries and enforcement projects reveal differences in are measures focusing on prevention, protection and compliance between Member States.
preparedness. The assessment also showed that, as was
the case for other Member States, Lithuania’s Flood Risk A 2015 Commission study already emphasised the Management Plans do not yet include a baseline to importance of harmonised market surveillance and assess the progress achieved in implementing measures. enforcement when implementing REACH at Member Also the coordination with the National Climate Change State level, deeming it to be a critical success factor in Adaptation Strategy could be reinforced. In addition, the operation of a harmonised single market 74 .
there is scope for clarifying the legal status of the Flood
Risk Management Plan.
2019 priority actions
71
• Ensure timely reporting of river basin management Principally for chemicals: REACH (OJ L 396, 30.12.2006, p.1.); for Classification, Labelling and Packaging, the CLP Regulation (: OJ L 252,
plans in accordance with the Water Framework 31.12.2006, p.1.), together with legislation on biocidal products and Directive. plant protection products.
72 ECHA, Report on the Operation of REACH and CLP 2016.
73 ECHA, On the basis of the projects REF-1, REF-2 and REF-3 .
74 European Commission, Monitoring the Impacts of REACH on
70 COM(2017) 749 , SWD(2017)445 . Innovation, Competitiveness and SMEs, Final Report , 2015.
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
In March 2018, the Commission published an evaluation Lithuania participates in the European Urban of REACH 75 underlining the need to improve enforcement Development Network (UDN) 81 , which includes more by all actors, including registrants, downstream users and than 500 cities across the EU responsible for carrying out importers in particular, to ensure a level playing field, integrated measures based on sustainable urban meet the REACH objectives and ensure consistency with development strategies financed by the ERDF in 2014- measures that aim to improve environmental compliance 2020. In June 2018, the UDN organised a workshop open and governance. For this, consistent reporting of to Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian cities implementing Member States’ enforcement activities was considered of sustainable urban development measures.
key importance. Participation in EU urban initiatives and networks
Making cities more sustainable Lithuanian municipalities are generally involved in EU
initiatives on environmental protection and climate
EU policy on the urban environment encourages cities to change.
put policies in place for sustainable urban planning and
design. These should include innovative approaches to Three Lithuanian municipalities are involved in the urban public transport and mobility, sustainable URBACT initiative, which supports sustainable urban buildings, energy efficiency and urban biodiversity development through five thematic networks 82 . None of
conservation. these networks are currently led by Lithuania.
Several Horizon 2020 network projects have also
The population living in urban areas in Europe is contributed to the sustainability of Lithuanian cities. Four projected to rise to just over 80% by 2050 76 . Urban areas cities, namely Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda and Palanga, pose particular challenges for the environment and participate in CIVITAS initiative, which aims to improve human health, but they also provide opportunities for the efficiency of urban transport in Europe and beyond, using resources more efficiently. The EU encourages while reducing the negative impacts of the transport municipalities to become greener through initiatives such sector and combatting harmful emissions 83 .
as the Green Capital Award 77 , the Green Leaf Award 78
and the Green City Tool 79 . 15 Lithuanian municipalities are involved in the EU
Covenant of Mayors. Good project examples include several projects related to renovating public and residential buildings, replacement of fossil fuels by biomass in the Kaunas DH system and modernising public
transport in Kaunas 84 .
These urban initiatives and networks should be welcomed and encouraged, as they contribute to a better urban environment. In 2017, 21.6 % of Lithuanians living in cities considered that their residential area was affected by pollution, grime or other environmental problems, a slight increase compared to 2015 (21.2 %) and 2014 (20.8 %). These figures are above EU-28 levels
(18.9 % in 2016, 19.2 % in 2015 and 19 % in 2014) 85 .
Financing greener cities
Lithuania has allocated EUR 204.7 million or 5.85 % of its allocation under the European Regional Development
Fund (ERDF) and EUR 6 million or 0.5 % of its allocation under the European Social Fund (ESF) to sustainable urban development 80 .
76 European Commission, Eurostat, Urban Europe , 2016, p.9. 81 European Commission, The Urban Development Network .
77 European Commission, European Green Capital. 82 URBACT, Associated Networks by country .
78 European Commission, European Green Leaf Award. 83 CIVITAS initiative .
79 European Commission, Green City Tool. 84 Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, Country signatories .
80 EU structural assistance 2007-2013, Partnership agreement 2014- 85 European Commission, Eurostat, Pollution, grime or other
2020. environmental problems by degree of urbanisation.
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
Nature and cities There is no progress on the proportion of renewable
Around 9 % of Lithuania’s Natura 2000 network is in energy used in transport. The proportion of renewable functional urban areas 86 , above the EU average of 15 % energy in fuel consumption is decreasing: 4.3 % in 2014,
(see Figure 18). 4.6 % in 2015 and 3.6 % in 2016. The Lithuanian rail network remains among the lowest electrified rail
Several Lithuanian cities are taking positive action networks in the EU: only 6.9 % of rail tracks are towards greening urban regeneration and the electrified. However, with the help of various funding implementation of green infrastructure. instruments, progress is expected in the coming years.
Figure 18: Proportion of Natura 2000 network in functional urban areas (FUAs) 87
Urban sprawl
Lithuania’s weighted urban proliferation of 1.69 UPU/m 2 in 2009 was around the EU average (EU28+4) of 1.64
UPU/m 2 , having increased compared to 2006 (1.64
UPU/m 2 8889 ) .
Traffic congestion and urban mobility
Traffic congestion is not one of the main environmental issues affecting Lithuania. However, many subjects addressed in this report are to some extent related to traffic congestion, especially air quality and noise.
Lithuanian cities generally have low levels of traffic congestion. The capital city Vilnius has a traffic
congestion level of 28 % 90 .
Regarding urban mobility, there has been an increase in the use of public transport in recent years, especially buses and trolleybuses, but also other transportation alternatives to the private car.
In freight transport, the proportion of road transport in
Lithuania was far below the EU average in 2015. Railways played an important role for freight transport in 2015 and are far above the EU average.
Lithuania is one of the EU countries with high road fatality rates despite the significant decreases that have been recorded since 2007.
86 European Commission, Definition of Functional Urban Areas .
87 European Commission, the 7 th Report on Economic, Social and
Territorial Cohesion , 2017, p. 121.
88 Urban Permeation Units measure the size of the built-up area as well as its degree of dispersion throughout the region.
89 EEA, Urban Sprawl in Europe, Annex I , 2014, pp.4-5.
90 TOMTOM, TOMTOM Traffic Index .
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
Part II: Enabling framework: implementation tools
-
4.Green taxation, green public procurement, environmental
funding and investments
Green taxation and environmentally harmful oil filters, air intake filters, shock absorbers and mercury
subsidies lamps 92 .
Financial incentives, taxation and other economic Figure 19: Environmental tax revenues as % of GDP instruments are effective and efficient ways to meet (2017)
93
environmental policy objectives. The circular economy action plan encourages their use. Environmentally harmful subsidies are monitored in the context of the
European Semester and the energy union governance process.
Lithuania’s revenue from environment-related taxes remains below the EU average. Environmental taxes accounted for 1.91 % of GDP in 2017 (EU-28 average:
2.4 %), as shown in Figure 19, and energy taxes for
1.73 % of GDP (EU-28 average: 1.84 %). In the same year, environmental tax revenues stood at 6.42 % of total revenues from taxes and social security contributions
(compared to the EU-28 average of 5.97 %).
The structure of taxation shows that the proportion of labour tax revenues in total tax revenues, at 48 % in
2016, was in line with the EU average, with the implicit tax burden on labour at 32.2 %. Consumption taxes remained high (at 38.3 %, 9th place in the EU-28), which suggests that there are obstacles to shifting taxes from labour to consumption, as well as to environmental taxes.
In the European Country reports, the Commission has repeatedly indicated that there is further potential to increase environmental taxes. Lithuania has the lowest
excise duties on motor fuel, petrol and diesel in the EU 91 Meanwhile, post-tax fossil fuel subsidies added up to
and the proposals to introduce a CO2-based motor more than USD 2.24 billion (this includes not only pricevehicle tax have been rejected so far. gap subsidies but also subsidies to combat the negative Nevertheless, there are several cases that show the consequences associated with fossil fuel use, such as implementation of sound fiscal measures related to the local air pollution, faster climate change and environment. Seven widely used products, which account congestion) 94 .
for a large portion of the waste stream, were added to In 2018, some efforts have been made to reduce the the products taxed under the Law on the Tax on ‘diesel differential’ (difference in the price of diesel Environmental Pollution of the Republic of Lithuania: versus petrol). Lithuania has increased the rate for diesel tyres, accumulators, galvanic elements (batteries), fuel or (propellant) in 2018 by 5%, however rate for petrol has
92 Institute for European Environmental Policy, Case Studies on Environmental Fiscal Reform, Environmental Pollution Tax in Lithuania .
91 European Commission, European Semester Country Report 2018 , 93 European Commission, Eurostat, Environmental tax revenues, 2019. p16. 94 European Parliament and IMF, Fossil Fuel Subsidies, 2017, pp. 10-11.
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
not been changed. In 2016, there was still a 32 % gap Statistical data show that the proportion of GPP tenders between petrol and diesel tax rates; whereas in 2005 it in overall public procurement (excluding low value was only 17 % 95 . contracts) was 7 % in 2013 and 5.7 % in 2014. The value
There are no CO of GPP tenders compared to the overall value of public 2 -based motor vehicle taxes in place in Lithuania. Incentives to encourage the purchase of cars procurement (excluding low value contracts) was 19.9 % with lower CO in 2013 and 8.6 % in 2014
100
. GPP accounted for only 2 emissions were low in 2016. New vehicles
purchased in Lithuania are among the least 8.3 % of the number of tenders and 13.3 % of tender environmentally friendly in the EU, with average CO value in 2016 and 19.1% of the number of tenders and 2 emissions of 126.2 grams per kilometre, above the EU 11.3 of tender value in 2017, all well below target levels.
average of 118 grams in 2016 96 . Resolution No 1133 adopted by the Lithuanian
The proportion of alternative fuels used in road transport government on 21 July 2010 stipulates that contracting is low in Lithuania. The focus is on electric vehicles, but authorities and contracting entities must ensure that at Lithuania does not yet have a dense enough network of least 45% of procurement includes environmental criteria publicly accessible recharging points. The spatial in both 2017 and 2018 and that at least 50% includes distribution of recharging points does not currently cover environmental criteria in both 2019 and 2020. The the needs of vehicles in terms of distance Minister of Environment Order No D1-508 of 28 June
requirements 97 . 2011 sets minimum and comprehensive environmental criteria for 30 products such as paper, office supplies, Green public procurement products from recycled plastics, publishing and printing related services, event management services and others.
The EU green public procurement policies encourage
Member States to take further steps to apply green Environmental funding and investments
procurement criteria to at least 50 % of public tenders.
The European Commission is helping to increase the use European Structural and Investment Fund (ESIF) rules of public procurement as a strategic tool to support oblige Member States to promote environment and
environmental protection. climate in their funding strategies and programmes for economic, social and territorial cohesion, rural
The purchasing power of public procurement amounts to development and maritime policy.
around EUR 1.8 trillion in the EU (approximately 14% of
GDP). A substantial proportion of this money goes to Achieving sustainability goals requires the mobilisation of sectors with a high environmental impact such as public and private funding
101
. Using the European
construction or transport. Therefore, green public Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF)
102
is essential to
procurement (GPP) can help to significantly lower the achieving environmental goals and integrating them into negative impact of public spending on the environment other policy areas. Other instruments such as Horizon and can help support sustainable innovative businesses. 2020, the LIFE programme
103
and the EFSI 104 may also
The Commission has proposed EU GPP criteria 98 . support implementation and help spread good practices. In Lithuania, a GPP national action plan and strategy are According to the 2017 Special Eurobarometer 468 on in force, and the GPP implementation measures for attitudes of EU citizens towards the environment
105 , 89 %
2016−2020 were approved in October 2015. A European of Lithuanians support greater EU investment in Parliament study shows that Lithuania has partially environmental protection (EU-28 average is 85 %).
implemented the GPP national action plan 99 .
95 EEA, Environmental taxation and EU environmental policies , 2017, 100 Dovilė Šličiuvienė, Public Procurement in Lithuania: (Dis)balance p. 27. Between Profitability and Environmental Protection, Springer
96 EEA, Average CO2 emissions from new passenger cars sold in EU-28 International Publishing , 2017 .
Member States plus Norway, Iceland and Switzerland in 2016 . 101 European Commission, Action Plan on Financing Sustainable Growth 97 European Commission, Transport in the European Union Current 102 ESIF comprises five funds — the European Regional Development
Trends and Issues , 2018, p 82. Funds (ERDF), the Cohesion Fund (CF), the European Social Fund (ESF), 98 In the Communication ‘Public procurement for a better environment’ the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), and the (COM (2008) 400) the Commission recommended the creation of a European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). The ERDF, the CF and process for setting common GPP criteria. The basic concept of GPP the ESF together form the Cohesion Policy funds. relies on having clear, verifiable, justifiable and ambitious 103 European Commission, LIFE Lithuania Factsheet, 2017. environmental criteria for products and services, based on a life-cycle 104 European Investment Bank, European Fund for Strategic approach and scientific evidence base. Investments, 2016.
99 European Parliament, Green Public Procurement and the Action Plan 105 European Commission, 2017 Special Eurobarometer 468 on attitudes for the Circular Economy, 2017, pp. 79-80. of EU citizens towards the Environment.
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020 employment initiative. Of this, ESF funding amounts to
Through three national programmes, Lithuania has been EUR 1.13 billion in Lithuania.
allocated EUR 8.39 billion from ESIF funds for 2014-2020. EU funds are a key asset for protecting the environment With a national contribution of EUR 1.56 billion, Lithuania in Lithuania. The investment priorities for Lithuania in has a total budget of EUR 9.95 billion to be invested in 2014-2020 include climate change, water, waste, air, various areas, from innovation and competitiveness to biodiversity and nature, and sustainable urban
SME support, resource efficiency, promoting transport 112 .
employment, quality education and social inclusion 106 . Figure 20: ESIF 2014-2020 – EU allocation by theme,
Member States’ administrative capacity in areas including Lithuania (EUR billion) 113 human resources, relevant knowledge, skills, systems and tools is one of the key elements needed to ensure successful and efficient investment of EU funds, including those for the environment. The importance of administrative capacity is well understood in Lithuania: the country actively participates in administrative capacity events and networks, e.g. a seminar on antifraud and anti-corruption measures related to ESIF funding held in Riga (2015); the Integrity Pact
Stakeholder Event in Bucharest (2017); and the TAIEX
REGIO PEER 2 PEER 107 network where Lithuania is the most active Member State. In addition, Lithuania is one of the 11 Member States participating in a pilot ‘integrity
pact’ 108 exercise; more specifically, the Vilnius
municipality is taking part with three projects.
According to the Sustainable Governance Index, Lithuania scores rather well in terms of policy performance
(including economic, social and environmental policies); it is ranked 11th amongst 41 countries world-wide 109 .
However, according to worldwide governance indicators,
Lithuania scores lowest in terms of political stability and corruption control perception and this area has the highest potential for improvement 110 .
Cohesion policy The ERDF allocation in Lithuania for moving towards a
In 2014-2020, Lithuania is managing one multi-fund low carbon economy is EUR 517 million, in addition to operational programme for the European Regional EUR 4 million for climate adaptation and EUR 190 million Development Fund (ERDF), the Cohesion Fund and the for environmental measures. The Cohesion Fund has European Social Fund (ESF), covering all thematic allocated EUR 454 million to the low carbon economy, as
objectives under EU cohesion policy 111 . well as EUR 104 million to climate adaptation and EUR 539 million to environmental protection and
For 2014-2020, Lithuania has been allocated around resource efficiency 114 .
EUR 6.82 billion (current prices) in total cohesion policy
funding, including EUR 4.63 billion under ERDF for less The Cohesion Fund has supported the construction of a developed regions (the entire country is classified as a sludge treatment facility at Vilnius’s wastewater less developed region), EUR 2.05 billion under the treatment plant with nearly EUR 29 million. The project Cohesion Fund, EUR 113.7 million for European territorial addresses a number of environmental challenges, while
cooperation and EUR 31.8 million under the youth improving the quality of life of more than 590 000 local residents. The sludge pellets produced by the new
106 European Commission, European Structural and Investment Funds ,
Country factsheet Lithuania, 2017. 112 European Commission, Summary of the Partnership agreement for 107 TAIEX REGIO Peer-to-peer . Lithuania , 2014, p. 1.
108 European Commission, Integrity pacts . 113 European Commission, European Structural and Investment Funds 109 Sustainable Governance Index. Data by Country.
110 World Bank Governance Indicators. 114 European Commission, Summary of the Partnership agreement for 111 European Commission, Cohesion Policy and Lithuania , 2014. Lithuania , 2014, pp. 4-5.
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
system also have potential use as a fuel source for resource-efficient, innovative, competitive and greener energy. knowledge-based fisheries and aquaculture 119 .
Current data suggest that the EU funds allocated in 2007- The Connecting Europe Facility
2013 were fully spent 115 . The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) is a key EU funding
Rural development instrument developed specifically to direct investment
The approved national rural development programme into European transport, energy and digital (EARDF) has a budget of EUR 1.6 billion. 7.2 % of this is infrastructures. It aims to address identified missing links dedicated to agri-environment-climate measures, 7.6 % and bottlenecks and promote sustainability.
to organic farming and 14.5 % to areas facing natural or By the end of 2017, Lithuania had signed agreements for
other specific constraints (ANCs). It is planned that 13 transport projects amounting to EUR 390 million 120
EUR 436 million will be spent on Lithuania’s ecosystem, and 9 energy projects amounting to around EUR 329 representing 27 % of the total budget. million 121 under the CEF.
As regards integrating environmental concerns into the Horizon 2020 common agricultural policy (CAP), the two areas that are
most important for Lithuania are: using rural Lithuania has benefited from Horizon 2020 funding since development funds to pay for environmental land the programme started in 2014. As of January 2019, 123 management and other environmental measures, and participants have been granted a maximum amount of ensuring the effective application of ‘’Greening’’ rules. EUR 15.1 million for projects from the Societal Challenges Lithuania’s 2015-2020 budget for direct payments is work programmes dealing with environmental EUR 3.1 billion, 30 % of which are being allocated to issues
122 123 .
greening practices beneficial to the environment 116 . The In addition to the abovementioned work programmes, latest financial data available (relating to the 2007-2013 climate and biodiversity expenditure is present across the period) show that Lithuania’s absorption rate for rural entire Horizon 2020. In Lithuania, projects accepted for development funds was 100 % better than the EU funding in all Horizon 2020 working programmes until average (97.3 %) 117 . December 2018 included EUR 11 million destined to
Recently, Lithuania has focused on agri-environmentclimate action (22.3 % of the total Horizon 2020
climate measures (AECM) sub-measures: contribution to the country) and EUR 2 million for biodiversity-related actions (3.4 % of the Horizon 2020
• Extensive management of meadows by grazing. contribution to the country) 124 .
This is an effort to encourage farmers to
increase the environmental value of all Several projects have been finalised or are still ongoing in meadows or pastures, irrespective of the timing Lithuania, such as Ecopotential (improving future of sowing. ecosystem benefits through earth observations), and • Stubbly fields in winter season, due to their projects aiming to, for example, improve the mapping of importance in fostering development of a ecosystem services for policy and decision making and
habitat, which acts as an important food source recycle waste tyres into devulcanised rubber.
for endangered species of predatory birds, while LIFE programme reducing the risk of wind and water erosion.
• Intermediate (catch) crops on arable land, as Since its launch in 1992, the LIFE Programme has cofinanced 17 projects in Lithuania. For the period 2014-
Lithuania intends to meet higher agri 2017 EUR 5 million has been allocated to Lithuanian
environmental objectives on arable land.
European Maritime and Fisheries Fund 119 European Commission , Commissioner Vella welcomes €82 million
investment package for the Lithuanian fisheries sector , 26.08.2015.
Lithuania receives around EUR 82 million in co-financing 120 European Commission, CEF-transport funding for Lithuania.
for the fisheries and the maritime sector, with an EU 121 European Commission, CEF-energy funding for Lithuania.
122
contribution of EUR 63 million 118 . Around 26 % (EUR 22 European Commission own calculations based on CORDA (COmmon Research DAta Warehouse) . A maximum grant amount is the maximum
million) is earmarked for achieving environmental goals, grant amount decided by the Commission. It normally corresponds to
namely promoting environmentally sustainable, the requested grant, but it may be lower.
123 i.e. (ii) Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine and maritime and inland water research and the bioeconomy; (iii)
115 European Commission, SF 2007-2013 Funds Absorption Rate , 2018. Secure, clean and efficient energy; (iv) Smart, green and integrated
116 European Commission , CAP in your country (Lithuania), p. 2. transport; and (v) Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and 117 COM(2017) 554 . raw materials.
118 European Commission, European Maritime and Fisheries Fund in 124 European Commission own calculations based on CORDA (COmmon Lithuania , 2015. Research DAta Warehouse) .
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
projects by the EU 125 . The LIFE MagniDucatusAcrola is National environmental financing among these projects, implementing measures towards
ensuring long-term favourable conservation status of the Lithuania spent EUR 186.2 million on environmental Aquatic warbler, with a EU requested contribution of protection in 2016, an 8 % decrease from 2015
133
. 25 %
around EUR 3 million 126 . of these payments were allocated to waste management activities (the annual average percentage of
European Investment Bank environmental spending allocated to waste management
In 2013-2017, EIB loans in Lithuania amounted to in the EU is 49.7 %). EUR 1.8 million was allocated to EUR 4.6 billion 127 . In 2018 alone, the EIB Group (the wastewater management (1 % of total) and 4.3 % of European Investment Bank and the European Investment environmental spending was allocated to protecting Fund) 128 loaned Lithuanian businesses and public biodiversity and the landscape (EUR 8 million). Between institutions EUR 372 million, as shown in Figure 21. Of 2012 and 2016, general government funding for this, EUR 91.7 million (24.6 %) went to environmental environmental protection was EUR 1.026 billion
134 .
projects. Lithuania runs several programmes financed by funds
Figure 21: EIB loans to Lithuania in 2018 129 collected though fiscal and market instruments, such as the Environmental protection support programme
(‘Aplinkos apsaugos rėmimo programa’) and the Climate change special programme (‘Klimato kaitos specialioji programa’) 135 . There are also municipal programmes that
support environmental activities.
The Environmental protection support programme receives funds from environmental taxes and penalties. The programme finances the development of environmental infrastructure, elimination of environmental pollution, preservation of fish stocks, environmental education and research, remuneration of officials carrying out state control of environmental
European Fund for Strategic Investments protection and other activities.
The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) aims The Climate change special programme is financed by to help overcome the current investment gap in the EU. proceeds from the sale of assigned amount units
136 and
As of January 2019, it has mobilised EUR 412 million in EU emission allowances. Other sources include donations Lithuania, and the secondary investment triggered by this and economic penalties to operators. At least 40 % of
is expected to be EUR 1.6 billion 130 131 . programme funds must be allocated to energy efficiency, another 40 % to renewable energy promotion and the
More specifically, eight projects involving Lithuania have remainder to reforestation and afforestation, education been approved so far under the infrastructure and and consultation on climate change issues, support to innovation window (including four multi-country developing countries and other tasks 137 .
projects), amounting to EUR 295 million in EIB financing
under the EFSI. This is expected to trigger about EUR 640 Other programmes include Waste Management million in investments. Under the SME window, five Programmes and the Programme for the Financing of agreements with financial intermediaries have been General Forestry Needs. Allocations for these
approved so far 132 . programmes have steadily increased in recent years: in 2016 they stood at almost EUR 47.7 million and in 2017
they increased to EUR 52.6 million.
2019 priority action
125 Commission services based on data provided by EASME. • Improve the capacity to use EU funds for the
126 European Commission, LIFE projects in Lithuania , p. 4. environment effectively, including preparation for
127 European Investment Bank , Delivering impact in finance in Lithuania ,
2017. the next financing period 2021-2027.
128 The EIB Group includes EIB and EFSI investments and loans.
129 EIB, Lithuania and the EIB , 2018.
130 European Investment Bank, EFSI project map. 133 Eurostat, General Government Expenditure by function , 2018.
131 European Commission , European Semester Country Report for 134 Eurostat, General Government Expenditure by function , 2018.
Lithuania , 2018. 135 Ministry of Environment .
132 European Commission , European Semester Country Report for 136 Carbon credits, i.e. allowance to emit greenhouse gases.
Lithuania , 2018. 137 Ministry of Environment .
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
-
5.Strengthening environmental governance
Information, public participation and access to of environmental legislation. In particular, it needs to prioritise datasets identified as high-value spatial data
justice sets 145 .
Citizens can more effectively protect the environment if Figure 22: Access to spatial data through view and they can rely on the three ‘pillars’ of the Aarhus download services in Lithuania (2017)
Convention:
(i) access to information;
(ii) public participation in decision making; and
(iii) access to justice in environmental matters.
It is of crucial importance to public authorities, the public and business that environmental information is shared efficiently and effectively 138 . Public participation allows authorities to make decisions that take public concerns into account. Access to justice is a set of guarantees that allows citizens and NGOs to use national courts to
protect the environment 139 . It includes the right to bring Public participation
legal challenges (‘legal standing’) 140 . In Lithuania 146 , public participation in environmental
Environmental information decision making is regulated by several legal acts, in
particular the Law on Environmental Protection and the
Lithuania has a centralized approach to disseminating Law on Environmental Impact Assessment of the environmental information. Information on most areas of Proposed Economic Activity (the EIA Law). Moreover, environmental policy can be accessed through the main there are general regulations on public information, environmental portal of the national protection consultation and participation in decision making in
agency 141 , with the exception of information on the spatial planning and several specifications addressing
Habitat Directive. Occasionally, information related to EU these issues. The Ministry of Environment website does legislation was not available on the main environmental not have a dedicated section for public consultations. portal, but was provided via the Ministry of Environment However, anyone can submit a proposal on a draft legal
website 142 . These portals are not linked to each other. act via the dedicated website of the Lithuanian
Lithuania’s performance on implementing the INSPIRE Parliament
147
.
Directive leaves room for improvement. Its performance The Ministry of Environment has also established a panel was reviewed based on its 2016 implementation in which representatives of environmental NGOs, report 143 and most recent monitoring data from 2017 144. environmental officials and representatives of science
There has been good progress as regards documentation and education institutions have equal participation. The of data and data sharing and reuse. Additional efforts are panel is an advisory body that considers the most needed to make the data accessible through services. important issues of the activities of the Ministry 148 . Lithuania also needs to make additional efforts to However, the Aarhus Convention Implementation Report prioritise environmental datasets in the implementation mentions challenges such as the lack of public
involvement in the early stages of the legislative process, 138 The Aarhus Convention, the Access to Environmental Information generally low response rates and late submissions of
Directive, 2003/4/EC and the INSPIRE Directive, 2007/2 together create
a legal foundation for the sharing of environmental information comments.
between public authorities and with the public. This EIR focuses on The Eurobarometer figures from 2017 show that people
INSPIRE.
139 The guarantees are explained in Commission Notice on access to in Lithuania agree relatively strongly (80 % of
justice in environmental matters, OJL 275, 18.8.2017 and a related
Citizen’s Guide. 145 List of high value spatial data sets .
140 This EIR looks at how well Member States explain access to justice 146 Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania, the trackrights to the public, and at legal standing and other major barriers to change version of Aarhus Convention implementation report of bringing cases on nature and air pollution. Lithuania , 2016, p. 2-3.
141 The Environmental Protection Agency . 147 Lietuvos Seimas .
142 Ministry of Environment 148 Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania, the track
143 INSPIRE LT country sheet 2017. change version of Aarhus Convention implementation report of
144 INSPIRE monitoring dashboard. Lithuania , 2016, p. 6-7, 31-34.
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
respondents) that an individual can play a role in 2019 priority actions
protecting the environment. • Improve access to spatial data and services by
Access to justice making stronger linkages between the central INSPIRE website and regional portals. Identify and
Significant progress is needed to inform the general document all spatial datasets required for the public about effective remedies for individuals and implementation of environmental law 149 , and make environmental associations in relation to access to justice the data and documentation at least accessible ‘as is’ in environmental matters under Lithuanian and EU law. to other public authorities and the public through This could be ensured for instance by providing detailed the digital services set out in the INSPIRE Directive. guidelines with information on how to take practical • Improve the legal framework for and/or the practical steps. Even if in accordance with the Law on Public application of measures that facilitate public Administration an individual act must specify the appeal participation in EU legislation that has an impact on procedure, this does not apply to general administrative the environment (e.g. by setting up a single webpage acts. In particular for those acts it is important that for the relevant information). information is easily available and user-friendly. This is • Ensure that there is legal standing for environmental not the case currently. People have the right to approach NGOs to bring legal challenges on air pollution.
a municipality for additional information on the administrative and judicial procedures (according to their
declared place of residence), and the municipality must Compliance assurance
provide legal assistance free of charge. However, this Environmental compliance assurance covers all the work cannot replace structured and user-friendly information undertaken by public authorities to ensure that available from public authorities online. industries, farmers and others fulfil their obligations to
protect water, air and nature, and manage waste 150 . It includes support measures provided by the authorities,
such as: (i) compliance promotion 151 ; (ii) inspections and other checks that they carry out, i.e.
compliance monitoring 152 ; and
(iii) the steps that they take to stop breaches, impose sanctions and require damage to be remedied, i.e.
enforcement 153 .
Citizen science and complaints enable authorities to focus their efforts better. Environmental liability 154
ensures that the polluter pays to remedy any damage.
An individual or public body concerned has the right to
bring action directly in court to protect themselves Compliance promotion and monitoring
against an activity, either by challenging the decision Online information is given to farmers on how to comply allowing such activity, or by claiming compensation of with obligations on nitrates and nature. The quality of damage suffered because of the activity (Article 7 of the this information is an indicator of how actively Law on Environmental Protection). The Supreme authorities promote compliance in areas with serious Administrative Court of Lithuania has confirmed that the implementation gaps. The website of Lithuania’s Ministry Aarhus Convention grants community-based of Agriculture includes a dedicated page on organisations the right to defend the public interest in implementing the Nitrates Directive 155 . This contains the environmental sphere. However, there is a lack of detailed guidelines on the use of fertilisers and manure clarity on whether NGOs have the right to contest the lawfulness of provisions of a normative legal act before a
court. 149 European Commission, INSPIRE .
Lithuania applies the ‘loser pays’ principle. An 150 COM(2018)10 , SWD(2018)10 .
151
unsuccessful litigant may be ordered to provide This EIR focuses on the help given to farmers to comply with nature
remuneration for legal services and litigation costs and nitrates legislation. 152 This EIR focuses on inspections of major industrial installations.
incurred by the other party if awarded by the court. 153 This EIR focuses on the availability of enforcement data and co
These costs might include: the paid stamp duty, ordination between authorities to tackle environmental crime.
representation expenses, costs connected with the 154 Directive 2004/35 CE , creates the framework. 155
investigation of the case, transport costs and others. The Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania, Implementation of Nitrates Directive.
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
management 156 . Protected areas, including Natura 2000 environmental surveillance during the first five years of sites, are managed by the State Service for Protected use. Such airspace surveillance helped to capture cases of Areas under the Ministry of Environment (‘Valstybinė illegal waste storage, dismantling of vehicles, storage of Saugomų Teritorijų Tarnyba prie Aplinkos ministerijos’). fishing gear, spilled pollutants at sea. However, not all The service’s website contains guidelines on activities suspected environmental violations proved to be true. In which are permitted in these areas 157 . However, these 2016 the regional environmental protection department guidelines target employees of the state service more of Panevėžys detected 5 breaches during airspace than the general public. The ‘frequently asked questions’ surveillance. They were eliminated by the obligation of section also provides some information on activities that individuals to clean up contaminated sites, and seizure of are allowed in the protected areas, as well as on permits illegal fishing gear. In two cases the administrative needed for each of these activities 158 . In addition, there is offenses were applied 165 . a dedicated Natura 2000 website, which provides a reader-friendly description of some limitations on various Citizen science and complaint handling activities in the protected areas 159 . However, this website
does not list all the obligations that landowners need to Engagement of citizens, including through citizen science, fulfil on Natura 2000 sites under the Birds Directive and can deepen knowledge about the environment and help the Habitats Directive. the authorities in their work.
Major industrial installations can present serious Protected species information system (Saugomų rūšių pollution risks. Public authorities are required to have informacinė Sistema, SRIS) is used to obtain, provide or plans to inspect these installations and to make verify data on protected species, their habitats and sites. individual inspection reports available to the public 160 . In This service can be used by all residents of Lithuania. accordance with the relevant national legislation 161 , Users can provide information on protected species and inspections under the Industrial Emissions Directive are their habitats
166
. The Ministry of Environment invited
performed by the Regional Environmental Protection citizens to provide information on observed wolfs, lynxs Departments which report to the Environmental and brown bears by filling a special form online
167
.
Protection Agency 162 . The website of the Environmental The availability of clear online information about how to Protection Department contains annual plans and is make a complaint is an indicator of how responsive supposed to include in future also annual reports with authorities are to complaints from the public. The
details on planned and completed inspections 163 . website of the Ministry of Environment includes a special However, the annual plans and reports generally include hotline (Karštoji linija), which provides information on very limited information, mainly indicating the number of how to submit a complaint about an environmental inspections planned and carried out without providing nuisance or environmental damage. The website refers details on the inspection results (though the level of to the AAKIS environmental information monitoring detail varies among the reports). system (Aplinkos apsaugos kontrolės informacinė sistema
A special military helicopter is used to monitor AAKIS) which is supposed to be able to receive citizen environmental compliance in Lithuania 164 . At least 75 complaints online
168
. Another option given on the
hours of its flight time is to be dedicated to website is to call dedicated phone numbers
169
.
Enforcement
156 The Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania, Surface
treatment and fertilization ; Manure storage and use . When monitoring identifies problems, a range of
157 State Service for Protected Areas . responses may be appropriate. With some exceptions 170 ,
158 State Service for Protected Areas . Lithuania lacks structured published information on
160 2010/75/EU , Article 23.
161 Law on Environmental State control; Requirements on Scheduled 165 Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania, Article of and Non-scheduled Inspections under the State Environmental Control 27.04.2016 ; Article of 18.05.2016 ; Article of 23.05.2018 ; Article of of the Economic Entities, approved by the Order of Minister of 13.03.2018 ; Article of 13.03.2018 .
Environment No. D1-145 of 18 February 2011, and the Rules On the 166 See this link for more information
Granting, Updating and Revocation of Integrated Pollution Prevention 167 Protected species and their habitats registration form (for more
And Control Permits, approved by the Minister of Environment Decree information: DELFI news portal ).
Order of the Minister of Environment No. D1-259528 of 6 March 168 Environmental information monitoring system . The Environmental 201415 July 2013. Protection Department received 463 notifications via this system in
162 Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania . 2018.
163 Regional Environmental Protection Departments, Vilnius 169 Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania .
Environment Protection Department , Šiauliai region environmental 170 For instance, the 2017 report of Siauliai Regional Environmental protection department , Annual activity reports . Protection Department provides details on follow-up actions and
164 Environmental Project Management Agency ( Aplinkos projektų penalties. The report refers to 7 non-compliance cases in 2017 and 17 valdymo agentūra ). outstanding court cases, p. 6-10.
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
issuing warnings, applying sanctions and achieving detected cross-compliance breaches on nitrates and compliance after follow-up measures have been set up nature.
and enforcement action has been taken. Payments under • Ensure more information is available on how
the common agricultural policy in Lithuania are managed professionals dealing with environmental crime work by the National Paying Agency under the Ministry of together.
Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania (‘Nacionalinė • Improve financial security for liabilities and ELD-
mokėjimo agentūra prie Žemės ūkio ministerijos’). The guidance and publish information on environmental agency also investigates non-compliance with EU legal damage.
acts and provides on its website graphical information on
non-compliance cases 171 . However, no data is available Effectiveness of environmental
on individual cases, and there are no references to administrations
individual EU Directives that were breached. According to
the Ministry of Agriculture, the number of non-compliant Those involved in implementing environmental
farms has decreased from 287 in 2015 to 138 in 2016 172 . legislation at EU, national, regional and local levels need to have the knowledge, tools and capacity to ensure that
Tackling waste, wildlife crimes and other environmental the legislation and the governance of the enforcement offences is especially challenging. It requires close process bring about the intended benefits. cooperation between inspectors, customs authorities, police and prosecutors. The websites of Lithuania’s Administrative capacity and quality
Ministry of Environment, Environmental Protection
Agency and Environmental Protection Department do not Central, regional and local administrations must have the contain any references to formal cooperation ability to carry out their own tasks and work effectively arrangements between inspectors/wildlife officials, with each other, within a system of multi-level police and prosecutors. However, in practice the Ministry governance.
of Environment does cooperate with the Lithuanian The 2017 EIR described the legal arrangements and Police Department 173 . The Environmental Department of structure of the environmental administration in the Vilnius municipality also closely cooperates with the Lithuania. The reorganisation of the Regional Lithuanian Police Department regarding preventing and Environmental Protection Departments into the investigating waste crime 174 . Other municipalities are Environmental Protection Department under the Ministry considering signing cooperation agreements with local of Environment is expected to improve efficiency and the police units on environmental crime 175 . coordination of environmental policy implementation 176 .
This reform is also expected to streamline compliance Environmental liability monitoring and enforcement activities and reduce the
The Environmental Liability Directive (ELD) establishes a administrative burden for businesses
177 . The
framework based on the ‘polluter pays’ principle to reorganisation is expected to be completed by January prevent and remedy environmental damage. The 2017 2019, and consequently early results are likely to be EIR focused on gathering better information on visible in the second half of 2019.
environmental damage, on financial security and Use of the ESIF is expected to improve some of guidance. The Commission is still collecting evidence on Lithuania’s environmental governance processes. Six the progress made. projects under the 2014-2020 investment programme
2019 priority actions aim to improve environmental monitoring and control; they have a total budget of over EUR 12 million 178 . One of
• Better inform the public about compliance these projects redevelops the existing integrated
promotion, monitoring and enforcement. As a environmental information management system (AIVIKS), minimum, this should involve providing more which should improve accessibility and the quality of detailed online information on inspection plans and environmental information. The ambitious governmental reports on industrial inspections commitment to create a new state IT service by the end
• Publish structured information on the outcomes of of 2019 should also facilitate the use of electronic
enforcement action and on the follow-up to
171 National Paying Agency under the Ministry of Agriculture of the
Republic of Lithuania . 176 15min news portal .
172 AGROETA, Agroverslo naujienos . 177 Gudavicius S., Aplinkosaugos kontrolės institucijos bus apjungtos,
173 Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania . Verslo žinios , 21.11.2017.
174 Vilnius municipality . 178 2014-2020 European Union investment in Lithuania, Applications
175 Vakaru ekspresas news portal . and projects .
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
services and enable the public or regulated entities to The current Lithuanian eGovernment gateway offers 82 interact with environmental authorities online 179 . electronic services for businesses, related to environment
According to the EUPACK study, there were almost 130 and agriculture. These include submission of thousand employees in core public administration in environmental reports and issuing of environmental
Lithuania in 2015 180 . permits. The gateway also offers 85 services for individuals.
According to the annual report of the Ministry of Interior, Lithuania scores very well on the SGI (Sustainable institutions under the supervision of the Ministry of Governance Indictors) adaptability ranking, i.e. on Environment employed 6 788 people in 2016. Employees cooperating with other countries while implementing dealing with environmental matters in municipal new developments at national level. Only a few EU administrations are not included in this number. The Member States, such as Denmark, Sweden and Finland,
total number of employees in municipal administrations
was around 14 000 in 2015 and 2016 181 . scored higher.
In 2010, 8.1 % of public services were available online. In
Coordination and integration 2015, this figure jumped to 27.2 %.
As mentioned in the 2017 EIR Report, the transposition According to Europe’s Digital Progress Report 2017, of the revised Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Lithuania’s digital public services score is 0.62/1. This is Directive 182 into national law provides an opportunity for higher than the EU-28 average (0.55/1)
184
.
countries to streamline their regulatory framework on
environmental assessments. Lithuania transposed the Enabling financing and effective use of funds
Directive late and the Commission is waiting for missing All information about the ESIF in Lithuania can be found information to be submitted. on one central website 185 . It includes information about
The Commission encourages the streamlining of funding opportunities, calls, public procurement environmental assessments to reduce duplication and opportunities, application procedures, projects, statistical avoid overlaps in environmental assessments for data and other details. project s . Streamlining helps to reduce unnecessary 2019 priority actions
administrative burden. It also accelerates decision
making, without compromising the quality of the • Complete transposition of the revised EIA Directive. environmental assessment procedure 183 . Lithuania has • Lithuania can further improve its overall
introduced streamlining of environmental assessments environmental governance (such as transparency, under the EIA and Habitats Directives. citizen engagement, compliance and enforcement,
as well as administrative capacity and coordination).
Adaptability, reform dynamics and innovation
(eGovernment) International agreements
After joining the open government partnership in 2012, The EU Treaties require the EU environmental policy to Lithuania pledged to increase the number of e-services promote measures at international level to deal with offered. To address this, in 2015 the government regional or worldwide environmental problems. adopted Resolution No 875 ‘On the Development of an assessment framework on environmental governance’. The EU is committed to strengthening environmental law
and its implementation globally. It therefore continues to
179 Nakrošis, V., Support for developing better country knowledge on support the Global Pact for the Environment process,
public administration and institutional capacity building (EUPACK), which was launched by the United Nations General Report on Public Administration Reform Trends and Reform Dynamics Assembly in May 2018 186 . The EIR is one of the tools to in Lithuania, report prepared for DG EMPL of the European ensure that the Member States set a good example by
Commission, 2017, p. 10-16.
180 Nakrošis, V., Support for developing better country knowledge on respecting European Union environmental policies and
public administration and institutional capacity building (EUPACK), laws and international agreements.
Public administration characteristics in Lithuania, report prepared for
DG EMPL of the European Commission, 2017, p. 2.
181 Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania, 2016 report of the public sector, (“2016 metų viešojo sektoriaus ataskaita”), p.31, 93.
183 The Commission issued a guidance document in 2016 regarding the 184 European Commission, Europe's Digital Progress Report (EDPR), setting up of coordinated and/or joint procedures that are Country Profile Lithuania , 2017, p. 9. simultaneously subject to assessments under the EIA Directive, Habitats 185 2014-2020 European Union investment in Lithuania .
Directive, Water Framework Directive, and the Industrial Emissions 186 UN General Assembly Resolution 72/277 and Organizational session Directive, OJ C 273, 27.7.2016, p. 1. of the ad hoc open-ended working group .
Environmental Implementation Review 2019 – Lithuania
Lithuania has signed and ratified almost all Multilateral exchanged through the EU-TWIX platform) show the Environmental Agreements. It has signed but not yet activity of customs authorities.
ratified the Nagoya Protocol. To ensure that the EU wildlife action plan (2016) is fully
Forests: EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) 187 / Forest Law implemented 193 , Lithuania’s national and local authorities Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) regularly monitor traders, breeders and keepers, in Regulation 188 addition to checks carried out at border crossing points.
Between March 2015 and February 2017, Lithuania 2019 priority action
carried out 7264 checks on operators who placed • Increase efforts to be party to relevant multilateral domestic timber on the EU market for the first time. It environmental agreements, by ratifying the also carried out 227 checks on operators importing remaining agreements.
timber. These numbers are way above the number of
checks Lithuania had planned for this period 189 . It is Sustainable development and the
estimated that 25940 Lithuanian operators placed
domestic timber on the EU market for the first time in implementation of the UN SDGs
this period, and 800 imported timber. Sustainable development links environmental, social and
It should be mentioned that Lithuania’s highest number economic policies in a coherent framework and therefore of penalties issued, other than notices of remedial action, helps to implement environmental legislation and related to domestic timber 190 . policies.
On cooperation (Article 12 EUTR), Lithuania reports to With Decree No. D1-920, Lithuania’s Minister of have collaborated with other government institutions Environment set up a working group on implementing within Lithuania and with other EU authorities, e.g. the the UN sustainable development goals in Lithuania 194 .
European Commission and the Forestry Institute of the The working group includes representatives of the Czech Republic. Lithuania is also involved in the Nordic Ministries of Environment, Finance, Social Security and Baltic network on EUTR implementation. Labour, Economy, Energy, Agriculture, Education and
Genetic resources: Nagoya Protocol on Access to Science, Transport, Interior, Culture, Health, Foreign Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Affairs, the Association of Local Authorities, Statistics Benefits Arising (ABS) 191 Department and non-government organisations.
Lithuania has designated competent authorities for The first meeting of the working group was held on 29 November 2017 and focused on preparing a report on
genetic resources and applied sanctions for implementation of the SDGs. SDG indicators for Lithuania
infringements of the EU ABS Regulation. However,
Lithuania has not submitted a due diligence declaration are available on the website of the Ministry of Environment 195 . The group proposed focusing on the
to date, nor has it applied any penalties. Lithuania following priorities until 2020: no poverty, decent work
submitted its first ABS Regulation implementation report
to the Commission at the end of 2017. and economic growth, reduced inequalities, good health and well-being, affordable and clean energy, industry
International wildlife trade: the Convention on innovation and infrastructure, responsible production International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild and consumption and climate action. These priorities are Fauna and Flora (CITES) 192 in line with the Lithuanian government’s programme for
Lithuania has established relevant national authorities 2018–2020 with funding coming also from the so-called and is processing import, (re-) export and intra-EU trade ‘reform basket’ (‘pokyčių krepšelio’)
196 Lithuania
documents, including requests, on a regular basis. submitted a national voluntary review on implementation of the SDGs to the UN in 2018 197 .
Reports on seizures of illegal wildlife shipments (in particular those reported every 6 months to TRAFFIC under its contract with the Commission, and those
187 Regulation (EU) No 995/2010 .
188 Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005 .
189 60 checks on operators of domestic timber and 155 checks on 193 European Commission, EU Action Plan against Wildlife Trafficking , operators importing timber were planned for the period 2015-2017. 2016.
190 Approximately 300, all of which being penalties following notices of 194 Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania . remedial action. 195 Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania .
191 Regulation (EU) No 511/2014 . 196 Lithuanian Government .
192 The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of 197 Voluntary national review on the implementation of the UN 2030
Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) . agenda for sustainable development in Lithuania .
| 15 Apr '19 |
COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS Environmental Implementation Review 2019: A Europe that protects its citizens and enhances their quality of life COVER NOTE |
Secretary-General of the European Commission 8302/19 |
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- 1.COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS Environmental Implementation Review 2019: A Europe that protects its citizens and enhances their quality of life
- 2.Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on waste and repealing certain Directives
- 3.Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control) (recast)